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Thursday Open Thread

Lots of end of year stuff to take care of. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

From Wired: The year intellectual property trumped civil liberties.

Update: ICE launches a hotline and new form for detained individuals "to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential removal from the country and are made aware of their rights."

... detained individuals can call if they believe they may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime. The hotline will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by ICE personnel at the Law Enforcement Support Center. Translation services will be available in several languages from 7 a.m. until midnight (Eastern) seven days a week. ICE personnel will collect information from the individual and refer it to the relevant ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Field Office for immediate action.
The new form, available here, instructs law enforcement they may not hold a detainee more than 48 hours after the individual would have otherwise been released.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Anglachel (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by The Addams Family on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 03:21:10 PM EST
    I'd imagine (none / 0) (#6)
    by Edger on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 05:17:15 PM EST
    that some reactionary right wingers could be wooed left. I don't imagine the percentage who could be would be too high though.

    Has anyone here ever seen it actually happen?

    Parent

    I think that the folks... (none / 0) (#7)
    by EL seattle on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 06:36:34 PM EST
    ...that Anglachel is referring to in this post are not already devoted-to-the-cause "reactionary right wingers".  The portion of the 99% that I think she's talking about are folks that may have even voted for Obama in 2008.

    Certainly, some (many) "dumb-s#it cops" are already reactionary right wingers.  But others (most?) are probably just like millions of working people who for whatever reason may be conservative, but don't actually have a closet full of fresh brown shirts. (Even if that makes a nice tribal image.)

    Personally, I think that Anglachel may be completely correct that this year "increasing numbers of people will vote their resentments".  If that's true, it would probably be a mistake for those on the Left to dismiss these voters as a lost/unworthy cause right from the start.  

    It's also possible that a lot of people just won't vote at all this year. The question will be, which people?  

    Parent

    I have to admit, (none / 0) (#9)
    by shoephone on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 07:35:41 PM EST
    as a longtime regular voter, I'm not excited to vote for congressional rep next November. I moved from the 7th to the 1st district last summer, and my current rep, Jay Inslee, is running for governor and leaving an open congressional seat. As of Tuesday, the new gerrymandered map that was mandated by recent census numbers has been drawn. The 1st district now runs from mid-Snohomish County all the way to the Canadaian border!, and the 7th lost South Seattle, but gained my neighborhood and a few others next door. I'm back in the 7th. I have no complaints with the great representation I've gotten from McDermott all the previous years, but I was really looking forward to voting for Roger Goodman in the 1st district Dem primary! The idea of voting in new blood for D.C. was pretty enthralling.

    Parent
    Huge kudo to Ruffian, (5.00 / 9) (#2)
    by oculus on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 03:56:59 PM EST
    who graciously moved my brother's car from airport parking to her condo.  Bro is here at least til Jan. 8 w/fractured vertebrae.  It takes a TL family to rescue a brother!

    Time Warner increased his (none / 0) (#20)
    by oculus on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 02:40:28 AM EST
    distress as they failed to get ESPN to my TV b/4 FSU bowl game today!0

    Parent
    That was a good game... (none / 0) (#21)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 08:05:06 AM EST
    even better that ND got beat, but the Washington/Baylor game was truly something to behold--especially if you like offense.  

    Parent
    Well, certainly a big push at the Post (none / 0) (#25)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 08:51:33 PM EST
    for the Dawgs to do a little housecleaning on the defensive side of the ball.  

    You know its big news when its getting more press than today's OMG, there's a toll on the 520!!11! story.  

    I think this Price kid just might be OK.

    Parent

    New laws that take effect on Sunday (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by jbindc on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 04:44:56 PM EST
    Here

    A sampling:


    Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

    SNIP


    Alabama, with the country's toughest immigration law, is enacting a key provision requiring all employers who do business with any government entity to use a federal system known as E-Verify to check that all new employees are in the country legally.

    Georgia is putting a similar law into effect requiring any business with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires. The requirement is being phased in, with all employers with more than 10 employees to be included by July 2013.

    SNIP


    Among federal laws, a measure Congress passed last week to extend Social Security tax cuts and federal unemployment benefit programs raises insurance fees on new mortgages and refinancings backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by 0.1 percent beginning Jan. 1.

    That covers about 90 percent of them and effectively makes a borrower's monthly payment on a new $200,000 mortgage or refinancing about $17 a month more than it would have been if obtained before the first of the year.

    Nevada's 3-month old ban on texting while driving will get tougher, with tickets replacing the warnings that police have issued since the ban took effect Oct. 1. In Pennsylvania, police are preparing to enforce that state's recently enacted ban on texting, scheduled to take effect by spring.

    Election law changes in Rhode Island and Tennessee will require voters to present photo ID, a measure that supporters say prevents fraud and that opponents say will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to cast ballots.



    Similar list (none / 0) (#4)
    by sj on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 05:05:14 PM EST
    But mostly more superficial.  Seriously... who would mess with Happy Hour?  Besides, of course, Utah.

    Also, I love Samoa who has decided to change which side of the International Date Line they will observe.  I can't believe the mean spiritedness of some people who are offended that employers must pay their employees for the Friday that will not be.

    Parent

    not just Utah unfortunately (none / 0) (#10)
    by CST on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 08:12:49 PM EST
    Happy hour has been banned in Massachusetts since 1984.

    Parent
    Wow. Bummer (none / 0) (#11)
    by sj on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:38:01 PM EST
    Not that I go all that often, but sometimes... it's just the thing...

    Parent
    Did Mitt do that too? (none / 0) (#12)
    by oculus on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:48:33 PM EST
    It's not so much (none / 0) (#16)
    by sj on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 01:34:39 AM EST
    the "cheap" cocktails (usually made with cheap liquor) for me as it is the HH appetizer menus.  Depending on where you go, of course.

    Parent
    the apps exist (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by CST on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 09:23:01 AM EST
    that's one thing they can do.

    They just can't do discount booze.  So you're all set!

    Parent

    I meant to add (none / 0) (#17)
    by sj on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 01:37:33 AM EST
    that I won't "refuse" to go to someplace with a Happy Hour so much as I'm not tempted.  Right now just thinking about it I have a hankering for artichoke crab dip.  (It used to be guacamole for me, but I've had to let that go here)

    Parent
    Yum (none / 0) (#23)
    by sj on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 09:47:18 AM EST
    That sounds wonderful.  And it's a great story.  If I get my behind back to Hawaii I am definitely contacting your for recommendations.

    Parent
    The insane part of the new mortgage (none / 0) (#5)
    by BTAL on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 05:09:12 PM EST
    fees is that it is a 10 year program that is paying for the latest 60 day UI/tax holiday program.

    Stupid math.

    Parent